Title : Tip40128 Tip Sheet
Type : News
NSF Org: OD / LPA
Date : January 28, 1994
File : tip40128
January 28, 1994
*** SPECIAL EDITION ***
***NSF-FUNDED EARTHQUAKE RESEARCH ***
This special expanded edition of the Tipsheet focuses
exclusively on earthquake-related projects funded by
the National Science Foundation (NSF). For details on
these science news and feature story tips, please
contact the public information officer noted at the end
of each item at (703) 306-1070.
Background: The first phase of NSF's response to the
January 17, 1994, "Northridge" earthquake -- the
collection of "perishable information" -- began
immediately after the quake. Working with three other
agencies involved in the National Earthquake Hazards
Reduction Program, NSF is now developing a program for
long-term research.
This is the pattern followed in the wake of the 1989
Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco when, using
supplemental funds, NSF supported more than 70 special
research projects at a total of $3 million ($2 million
to earthquake engineering and $1 million to earth
science). The agency's earthquake-related research is
coordinated by William Anderson of the engineering
directorate (703/306-1362) and James Whitcomb of the
geosciences directorate (703/306-1556).
NSF HELPED L.A. PREPARE FOR REBUILDING --
BEFORE THE QUAKE
A devastating earthquake triggers a massive
response, but after the emergency crews come and go,
the long, hard task of rebuilding a community is just
beginning. With a $165,000 grant from the NSF, a
Portola Valley, California, firm helped local
government officials in six earthquake-prone areas
across the country -- including Los Angeles officials
some 14 months ago -- prepare for the potentially
immense job of rebuilding. Through simulation
exercises, the project helped city planners, finance
officers, building inspectors, firemen and others
understand the responsibilities they could face, such
as demolition, finding temporary housing and business
sites, preparing reconstruction plans, and focusing on
ways to lessen the impact of future earthquakes. For
details, call the project directors -- Martha Tyler and
George G. Mader of William Spangle and Associates -- at
(415) 854-6001. [Sean Kearns]
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SCIENTISTS AT NSF RESEARCH CENTER DEVELOP SEISMIC ZONE
SYSTEM TO PROVIDE
EARTHQUAKE PROBABILITY ESTIMATES
Scientists at the NSF-funded Southern California
Earthquake Center are developing a classification
system for the likelihood of an earthquake in some 65
seismic zones. Earthquake probabilities are classified
depending on the amount of seismological information
existing for a given area. For example, the Northridge
quake occurred in a zone recognized to have a high
probability of a damaging earthquake. Earthquake
response plans for these areas are also being
developed by researchers at the center.
Scientists affiliated with the University of
Southern California, the California Institute of
Technology, the University of California at Los
Angeles, the University of San Diego, the University of
California at Santa Barbara, the University of
California at Santa Cruz, Columbia University and the
U.S. Geological Survey form the core of the Southern
California Earthquake Center, one of 25 NSF Science and
Technology Centers. Other academic institutions and
private corporations participate in research projects.
The goal of the center is to develop plans to mitigate
injury and loss of life, and reduce property and other
damage from earthquakes in southern California.
Center scientists are currently working on a
prototype seismic hazard model for southern California
that will provide a framework for planning, engineering
and construction code revision. Tom Henyey, director
of the center, may be reached at:
(213) 740-5832. [Cheryl Dybas]
WHEN THE FLOOR SHAKES
UNDER A PERSON IN A WHEELCHAIR
To understand how someone in a wheelchair might
behave in an earthquake, an NSF-supported researcher at
L.A.'s University of Southern California (USC) observed
the behavior of paraplegic and quadriplegic individuals
as they experienced simulated tremors. Two levels of
fake quakes -- resembling 4.5 and 6.5 on the Richter
scale -- were depicted in a 24- by 12-foot "static
room," and the subjects were charged with maneuvering
through the disarray to a door. According to researcher
Mansour Rahimi of USC's Institute of Safety System
Management, "There are tremendous obstacles for
disabled people after an earthquake. But these people,
even though they were severely physically disabled, had
the psychological strength to handle the tasks." Rahimi
can be reached at (213) 740-4016.
[Sean Kearns]
GETTING R&R RESEARCH OUT OF LABS
AND INTO BUILDINGS
Through its wide-ranging special initiative on
repair and rehabilitation (R&R) of hazardous buildings,
NSF helps R&R researchers around the world communicate
with each other. It also helps speed the transfer of
design, construction and materials research into cost-
effective retrofitting.
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For example, one R&R project studied the evaluation
and rehabilitation of "tilt-up structures"; these are
cast horizontally and then tilted into a vertical
position to make walls for warehouses and other light
industrial buildings. Another project explored the
strengthening of columns with "jackets," a method now
being used successfully. In its fourth year, the 16-
project initiative is coordinated by James O. Jirsa of
the University of Texas, Austin; he can be reached at
(512) 471-4582. [Sean Kearns]
WHACKS AND WAVES:
DELICATE HAMMER REVEALS CONCRETE FLAWS
Looking into non-destructive ways to peer into
structures, some University of Texas researchers
developed a way to use a high-tech hammer and sensors
to evaluate damage in reinforced concrete. Called
spectral analysis of surface waves, the method involves
hitting the surface of concrete with a hammer that's
calibrated to time its impact; the sensors are
strategically placed to derive enormous amounts of data
from the stress waves they pick up. Computer analysis
then helps researchers reveal flaws in the material.
The $153,000 project was directed by Kenneth H. Stokoe,
(512) 471-3434. [Sean Kearns]
BURIED LIFELINES: WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE...
Images from Los Angeles of geysers of flame emerging
from flooded boulevards provided a harsh view of the
usually hidden underground networks that cities rely
upon. These networks -- which carry water, sewer, oil
and gas -- are so critical they're called buried
lifelines. Leon Wang, an NSF-funded researcher at Old
Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, recently
spent more than two years studying ways to strengthen
vulnerable buried lifelines before an earthquake, and
devising ways to repair them in emergencies afterward.
[Sean Kearns]
HINGING ON BRIDGES:
A $55 MILLION LESSON PROVES WORTHY
After the 1971 earthquake in the San Fernando
Valley, California's Department of Transportation spent
$55 million and 14 years to retrofit 1,250 bridges in
the state. According to NSF-supported researcher
Emmanuel Maragakis's analysis, the retrofitting (which
involved installing cables to restrain the bridge
sections from unhinging) "performed very effectively"
during earthquakes. Using models to analyze the
response of several bridges, Maragakis, a researcher at
the University of Nevada at Reno, and his colleague,
Mehdi Saiidi, also found that the standard design
procedure, though it conservatively errs on the side of
safety, could be improved. Maragakis can be reached at
(702) 784-4839. [Sean Kearns]
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AFTER THE AFTERSHOCKS:
LEARNING FROM LOMA PRIETA
By coupling the fortune of advanced scientific
methods with California's increasingly active
faultlines, NSF-funded researchers learned much from
the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. Studies focused on,
among other issues, the management of transportation
systems in preparedness, response and recovery; the
extent to which seismic shutoff valves and other safety
devices help prevent fires caused by natural gas leaks;
the performance of electric power transmission systems;
and the earthquake's effect upon sanitary landfills,
university buildings, earthen dams, storage tanks,
housing and rental markets, and the regional economy.
[Sean Kearns]
PROJECTING EMERGENCY SHELTER:
WHO MIGHT NEED IT IN NEXT
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA EARTHQUAKE
Using data from Red Cross shelters, building
officials and the 1990 census, an NSF-funded research
group is developing models for the San Francisco Bay
area that it hopes will improve the nation's emergency
planning, disaster response and residential rebuilding
efforts. The models will project estimates of "housing
habitability" based on a neighborhood's proximity to
the earthquake source and underlying geologic
materials, and show how shelter populations are related
to patterns of structural damage. The project will also
assess the demographic characteristics of the shelter
population compared to the overall impacted population.
[Sean Kearns]
-end-
The National Science Foundation is an independent
agency of the federal government established in 1950 to
promote and advance scientific progress in the United
States. NSF accomplishes its mission primarily by
competitively awarding grants to educational
institutions for research and education in the
sciences, mathematics, and engineering.
This and other information is available
electronically on STIS, NSF's Science and Technology
Information System. For more information about STIS
contact the Publications Section at (703) 306-1130 and
request the "STIS Flyer," NSF Publication #91-10, or
send an E-mail message to stisinfo@nsf.gov (INTERNET)
or stisinfo@NSF (BITNET).